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good words from marbury

July 22, 2005
NEW YORK (AP) -- While Larry Brown pondered the pros and cons of coaching the Knicks, Stephon Marbury endorsed the prospect of his former Olympic coach taking over in New York.

Brown and Knicks president Isiah Thomas met for four hours Thursday night at Brown's home in East Hampton, N.Y., a summit the Knicks described Friday as ``positive.''

Marbury said he was OK with Brown taking over -- or with keeping interim coach Herb Williams. Marbury also guaranteed the Knicks will make the playoffs.

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``How can you not be supportive of Larry Brown being the coach?'' Marbury told WEVD radio. ``He's one of the best coaches to coach the game. So for me, that's a no-brainer.''

Marbury and Brown clashed at last summer's Olympics, where the U.S. team lost three times and finished a disappointing third.

The Knicks said they did not expect to make any announcements regarding Brown over the weekend.

Brown would be coaching his eighth NBA team if he takes over the New York, but he has expressed reservations in recent days about possibly nudging Williams out of a job.

``If Herb was the coach, I think with our team, we'll still be great,'' Marbury said. ``Larry brings something totally different to the table because of his experience, and everyone knows experience rules. So for him to be the coach, it'd be great.''

The Knicks have made several offseason changes to their roster, dealing forward Kurt Thomas to Phoenix for guard Quentin Richardson, reaching agreement with Seattle free agent center Jerome James and drafting center Channing Frye, guard Nate Robinson and forward David Lee.

Under some prompting, Marbury went on to make a bold statement about the Knicks' chances coming off a 33-49 season.

``We're making the playoffs,'' Marbury said in the radio interview. ``I'm guaranteeing that. We're going to make the playoffs.''

Isiah Thomas waited patiently while the saga of Brown's departure from the Detroit Pistons played out, and Brown is clearly his choice to take over leadership of a rebuilding franchise that's been mediocre at best during the past several seasons.

If Brown were to take the job, he would give the go-ahead to his agent to work out the contract language with Knicks executives.

``Nothing has changed today,'' agent Joe Glass said Friday. ``I talk to him at least two times every day.''

As presently constructed, the Knicks don't fit the mold of one of Brown's typical teams.

Aside from Richardson and Jamal Crawford, both with low career shooting percentages, the Knicks' corps of shooting guards includes gimpy-kneed Allan Houston, who could be waived before November in a luxury-tax saving move, and the over-the-hill Penny Hardaway, playing out the final season of a long-term contract that pays him more than $14 million next season.

Tim Thomas, a career underachiever, is New York's best small forward, while the front line will be manned by work-in-progress Michael Sweetney and James, who brings an underachiever reputation along with him from Seattle.

Then there's defense, another key facet of all Brown's teams. The Knicks don't play it very well, and they also fail in the toughness category that Brown's Pistons teams so embodied.

Still, Brown loves challenges as much as he craves attention and new jobs.

His picture has been plastered across the back pages of the New York tabloids, and he even was interviewed and photographed at a boat harbor after returning from a leisurely afternoon with his family on the waters off Long Island, N.Y.

Photographers followed Brown's wife, Shelly, after she picked up Thomas from a small airport Thursday evening.

``If I'm speaking to them, I obviously have an interest,'' Brown said. ``But my concern is what is best for my family and if I can do it mentally.''

``I don't want to string this thing out for Herb or their organization,'' Brown said. ``But the biggest thing, to be honest with you, is I've got to get it straight with my family what I'm going to do.''

Steph has to understand he's not in the hood anymore. This is a professional league, its the NBA. Yes, fancy passing and scoring is fantastic, but he has to realize the improvements he must make this offseason. He must improve mentally. I hope Steph doesn't mess this up for NYK and LarryBrown. Landing Larry will help the knicks. Steph must realize that in order for the knicks to improve he must improve, and part of that is trusting LarryBrown and listening to the coaches orders. If Steph remains hardheaded, we always have til late Feb to work out a trade.

The endorsement of Marbury from Larry Brown was even better!
Atleast they both made it explicitly clear that there was no hard feelings in athens, and that they have a great relationship as reported by the NY times.

Give Marbury a break!

For all of the criticism, for all the non believers, Marbury is the knicks franchise. He is the single reason why people show up for the games. If Jason Kid has no one to pass the ball too no one says Kid needs to improve! Marbury is a scoring point gaurd, not because he wants to be, because he has too be. The man endorsed Brown as he should have, while at the same time remaining loyal to Herb Williams. That shows class. Brown and Marbury will mesh well together. They both want to win.

not really,. hes just saying that hes one of the league leaders in assists, and hes the best player on our team, i dont see where thats wrong...he didnt say he was A franchise player (there arent that many KG, Shaq, TD), he said he was OUR franchise.. the game is in his hands. and i dont see anyone else who can really lead this time, on the court.

Stephon Marbury, the Knicks' starting point guard, said yesterday that he would welcome Brown as his coach. Brown, in turn, spoke highly of Marbury, and the two insisted they would work well together, despite some difficulties at last summer's Olympics.

For months, Marbury has refrained from endorsing Herb Williams, the current Knicks coach, for the permanent job. In an interview with Stephen A. Smith on the radio station ESPN 1050, Marbury sounded enthusiastic about the possibility of Brown taking the reins.

"I'd be happy about it," Marbury said. "Coach Brown is a proven winner."

Later in the interview, Marbury was even more emphatic.

"How could you not be supportive of Larry Brown being the coach?" he said. "He's one of the best coaches to coach the game. So for me, that's a no-brainer. I'm not going to make this complicated. It's a no-brainer. If Herb was the coach, I think with our team, we'd still be good. Larry Brown, he brings something totally different to the table, because of his experience. And everyone knows that experience rules."

Told of Marbury's comments, Brown returned the good vibrations.

"He knows how I feel about him," Brown said of Marbury. "I don't think Isiah would be talking to me if he didn't feel Stephon and I had a good relationship."

Concerns about the Brown-Marbury dynamic stem from the 2004 Games in Athens. Marbury was the starting point guard and Brown the coach for a United States team that settled for a bronze medal. Marbury was often frustrated with Brown's directives, and he said so at the time.

But looking back, Marbury said: "It was a great learning experience. At first it was kind of hard, because Coach Brown, he demands a lot out of his point guard, which is understandable. But at the end of the trip, I started to understand what he wanted, and the games got a lot easier for me."

Brown said the recent reports of a rift with Marbury "kind of shocked me."

"We left with a great relationship," Brown said, referring to the Olympics. He acknowledged that in the beginning, "I was asking him to do things that were difficult, and I sensed it was kind of tough for him. And then as the whole experience went on, I really thought he got better."

Thomas and Brown have a friendship that spans 25 years. When Brown had trouble communicating with Marbury last summer, he consulted Thomas.

"Isiah gave me some insight into him," Brown said. "Once we had that conversation, I felt really good about everything that went on between me and him."

and u call urself a knick fan?.... sounds to me like ur the one riding reggie millers ****.... yes marbury can pass the ball around more but if he didnt shoot it enough we wouldnt score so just stfu and give the knick a break.

get serious we HAD no options...key word being HAD. with the addition of a DECENT (tough, big unlike Nazr) and a better shooter and player in Q-Rich look for marbury to incorporate more...and if he doesnt THEN you can rag on him all you want. but until then realize. are roster last year sucked.